I'll Be Seeing You
by Brandidy
Summary: Daryl has this weird tradition where he takes Beth on the "scenic route" and they go through cars together. But does he have something else in mine this time?


We were driving along what Daryl called "the scenic route" which really just meant it was the way where some people had left their nice cars. He had this weird tradition type thing where he would pull us to the side and go through one car each month. One time, I found a small keyboard that took batteries. Daryl kept me up nearly till daylight making me play for him.

We'd gone through eight cars since we finally decided to settle down in a house a little outside of what used to be Virginia's state lines. I guess nobody really cares much for specifics anymore.

It was the beginning of a new month and Daryl seemed especially exuberant to get to the cars today. I would have questioned it, but honestly, he's been so tense with me that I'm just happy to see him happy.

He got mad at me about a week ago when we found a man on the side of the road who asked if we had anything to eat, and I gave him some food. Daryl immediately pulled me to the side and told me, "We got to _survive_ off of that, Greene."

I just flashed him a smile. "And now he gets to survive too."

The man had been friendly with us, or at least I thought so, but when we got back, Daryl told me that the guy had only been nice to _me_, and he knew why. He went off into the woods, successfully shutting me out. It was only whenever he got home that I figured out that he was jealous. Wouldn't admit it out loud, but he kept bringing the guy up, then asked me if I wanted to leave and gave me an out. An out of what, exactly? Our relationship? Daryl made damn sure I knew this wasn't a relationship. We'd sleep together, we'd spend day after day in bed laid up, just our bodies talkin', but the next morning, he'd tell me that "We gotta get our heads outta the clouds, Beth."

My heads were never in the clouds, but I had faith.

So now here we are, me pretending that nothing happened and him rolling with it. He led me to a dark blue camaro, an old one. Probably 66' pr 67'. He opened the drivers side door with ease, which I found vaguely odd considering he usually had to break them. Quickly, he leaned in and did a sweep, then came back out and shook his head. Empty.

I sighed, starting to walk off when he grabbed my arm. I turned to him a bit surprised considering he hasn't really touched me this entire week.

"Do you want this?" He asked, and that… Well, that's…

"That's the stupidest damn thing I've ever heard, Daryl Dixon!" I yelled, finally releasing all of my anger. It was like a switch had been flipped, my cheery smile ripped off and replaced by a blistering grimace. "You've been actin' like I'm some sort of plague all week, yet I'm still here. You think I'd do that if I didn't want this?"

He looked astounded to say the least. "Listen, Beth…"

"No, you listen." I said, poking him in the chest. I thought back to the time where he would have flinched at my touch. "I love you. I know you don't like to hear it and I know you probably think I'm some teen who's lovesick and naïve, but I do. And I know you love me too, but you're too damn scared to admit it!" I felt the tears welling up in my eyes, making me turn away and wipe them and I hated that. I hated appearing as the weak little girl he thought I was.

"What do you want from me, Beth?" He asked quietly, a strange contrast to when he had asked me at the moonshine shack.

I looked back at him, and I saw it. Guilt. Good. I don't deserve to be treated like nothing and I wanted to make damn sure he knew it. "I want you to admit it. Either admit you love me or… Admit you don't. And if you don't, I'll go. You won't have to put up with me anymore." I promised, yet I felt such a wave up pain in my chest that I nearly buckled in on myself.

Daryl looked at me, and I knew it. I knew he was going to tell me to pack my shit. That's why he looked so ashamed. So, I saved him the trouble.

I walked up to him, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and smiled although it hurt more than anything I've ever felt before in my life. "I'll be seeing you." I told him, instantly regretting it. That was _our _song. Billie Holiday-I'll Be Seeing You. We danced to that song on a record player. He was so awkward about it, but who cares? He's perfect to me.

We made love to that song our first time.

I told him I loved him the first time during that song.

I wiped a tear once more, only to find that it was replaced by many, many more. "I'll be seeing you." I whispered again, this time more to myself than him, turning around and facing the day the way it was going to be from now on. Alone.

"God dammit, Bethany Anne Greene. Give me some time to speak for god's sake!" He yelled, yanking my arm, spinning me around. My chest thumped into his, and he held me there. He looked at me then. "You know it ain't easy for me to say it, but if me not saying it means you're gonna leave, well screw that. I'll say it every day." He leaned in, placing his warm lips on mine and moving them slowly until I felt like warm butter. "Every time we wake up." Another kiss, this on my jaw. "Every time I come back from hunting." He leaned in more, kissing me on my neck, sending shivers down my spine. "Every time we're together in bed…" He lifted his heated hands, bringing them to my cheeks. "I love you, alright?" He kissed me, but this was different. This was him giving in. Giving into me, giving into love, giving into living. My heart was beating like crazy, and I sighed into his lips as he pulled me in even closer.

Then, I felt something cold in his hands pressing against my cheek. He pulled back, and my eyes stayed closed and my lips stayed parted, just trying to remember what I had been talking about before he did that. But, even when it came back to me, it was gone when I opened my eyes. Because there before me was Daryl fucking Dixon holding a ring in his hand. If I had wanted him out of his comfort zone, I got it.

"Daryl, what are you-"

"I told you to shut up for a minute, okay?" He said, then stepped back and I tried to not get angry at him for telling me to shut up. I nearly began to cry again when he knelt down. "Now, Beth, I know I'm not exactly husband material, and you deserve so much better, and I shouldn't have treated you like that, but… Well, uh." He stopped, trying to think of how to say it. "I like it when you sing to me. And when you bite your lip when you're actin' all cute." He said looking at the ground before him. "And I like it when you do that thing where you kiss my back, kissing the ugly parts of me and actin' like they ain't nothin' weird to you. Like you had been doing it every day, all of your life." He chuckled a little and I smiled so wide I think my cheeks split. "And I especially like when I throw a damn fit and you just look at me with that knowing smile and kiss me, and I remember that you're this strange light that has made its way into my dark path." His face blushed as he looked up at me. "Now I'm being all god damn poetic. Jesus."

"I think it's pretty hot." I told him, biting my lip before realizing he was just talking about that.

He laughed, looking down. "Yeah, you would." Then he kept a smile and lifted his hand with the ring. "Beth, what I'm trying to say is… I want you to do all of those things. And I want to do the things that you like about me for only god knows why. And I want us to be able to do them every day for the rest of our lives, however long that may be." I couldn't help but slightly bounce in anticipation. "What do ya say? Wanna get hitched and go have a honeymoon in some abandoned Hilton hotel?"

I laughed. "Yes." I ran forward, knocking him to the ground and straddling him. "God yes!" Bending, I kissed him. He lifted my hand, slipping the ring on my finger, which was slightly too small, but we could put it on a chain. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me like the support he was as I kissed him with all I could manage.

"Who knew you were such a romantic." I teased and he blushed beneath me, then shut me up with a kiss. I guess I could be okay with him quieting me that way.


End file.
